A general survey of two decades that Diggins (History/U. Cal. at
Irvine) implies reveal the heart of America. Diggins' previous
books include The American Left in the Twentieth Century and The
Lost Soul of American Politics. Diggins might have been better
served by focusing on only the 50's; his thesis is not really aided
by the addition of the 40's, a time when America was too mired in
reality to make a cultural difference. The 50's, despite its
reputation for having had "the bland leading the bland," was in
truth abrew with countless political, cultural, and social trends
that would feed the following three decades. Perhaps Diggins felt
that by adding the previous decade he might have been able to
emerge from the shadow of Jeffrey Hart, who had already
accomplished in his 1982 work, When The Going Was Good: American
Life In the Fifties, what Diggins seems to be reaching for here. At
any rate, Diggins' eyes see all, however flittingly. Here is the
good (the courage of American soldiers in WW II, the Marshall Plan,
the polio vaccine, peace and prosperity); the bad (the fire-bombing
of Dresden and Tokyo, our use of the A-bomb, McCarthyism, unabashed
materialism, spiritual shallowness), and the ugly (race riots
during the war years, the internment of Japanese-Americans). This
balanced view is as it should be, for as Diggins eloquently puts
it, "To be worthy of truth, history must make us shudder as well as
smile." By their nature, books such as Diggins' can only skim
important events. Despite his hope that his book is "short enough
to arouse interest and long enough to cover the matter," it turns
out to be just long enough for the former, but too short for the
latter. (Kirkus Reviews)
"Richly instructive. . . . With characteristic cogency and verve John Diggins has painted a memorable portrait of the United States at a triumphant moment in its history."—David M. Kennedy, Stanford University "A superb introduction to the period, not only for what it recounts but for Mr. Diggins's shrewd guidance through the intricacies of cold war diplomact and domestic politics and economics in the age of Truman and Eisenhower, and for his illumination of the time through such people and young Martin Luther King, Jr., in the early days of the civil rights movement, Senator McCarthy and Charles Wilson of General Motors. He impressively combines responsible coverage with sharp commentary in clear, bright, readable prose."—Alan Trachtenberg,
New York Times Book Review "A superbly and provocatively writeen account that somehow succesfully combines social, cultural, political, and diplomatic history (Kinsey, Bogart, McCarthy, Eisenhower, along with many others) to give us the overview we have needed of that mid-century shift that changed the course of American life—even before we entered the Sixties."—Walter LaFeber, Cornell University
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